When it comes to all villa, no filler, our UK readership tends to make house calls to favourite postcodes in Greece, Tuscany and the South of France, along with urban homestays through fixers such as Onefinestay and the increasingly popular Plum Guide. First through the door this year is The Thinking Traveller, which scored highest for variety and customer service, and whose hand-picked rooms with a view include addresses in Antiparos, Lefkada and the Ionian Islands.
These are the best villa rental companies in the world, according to the 2023 Readers’ Choice Awards. The scores below are percentages representing overall average levels of satisfaction.
Ionian Islands – The Thinking TravellerSTELIOS KYRIAKIS
The best villa rental companies 2023
15. Airbnb. Score 84.72
14. SJ Villas. Score 89.84
13. Plum Guide. Score 91.00
12. Simpson Travel. Score 92.46
11. Vintage Travel. Score 93.01
10. Tuscany Now & More. Score 93.80
9. To Tuscany. Score 94.17
8. Le Collectionist. Score 95.10
7. Scott Williams. Score 96.48
6. CV Villas. Score 97.12
5. Essential Italy. Score 97.55
4. Beyond Spaces Villas. Score 98.42
3. Onefinestay. Score 98.77
2. Oliver’s Travels. Score 99.08
- The Thinking Traveller. Score 99.61
The Thinking Traveller
Behind the scenes of one of yours and ours favourite villa companies, Thinking Traveller
It’s been 20 years since Rossella and Huw Beaugie founded their specialist villa company, inspired by a holiday in Italy’s Aeolian islands during which they climbed ever-smoking Stromboli, fringed in black ash, and descended to swim in the cobalt sea. The future, it seemed, lay in seeking out high-end villas around Rossella’s birthplace of Sicily so others could enjoy a similar lifestyle.
“I love a view,” says Rossella. “And I love a sense of privacy and being on the water. A place has to have charm; it has to be there for a reason rather than just being a property for rental.” Starting out as Think Sicily, the couple soon moved onto Puglia, an overlooked region of Italy that was only just beginning to attract north Italians. Both were fairly virgin territories when it came to matching the owners of quality villas to holidaying families. And since 2002, the Thinking Traveller has appeared in almost every UK Readers’ Travel and Choice Awards: readers clearly appreciate the attention to detail and care that the couple and their team take in finding the properties and in arranging every single aspect of a trip.
